Share capital

Share capital[1] (or capital stock in US English) refers to the portion of a company's equity that has been obtained by trading stock to a shareholder for cash.

In its strict sense, as used in accounting, share capital comprises the nominal values of all shares issued (that is, the sum of their par values, as printed on the share certificates). If the allocation price of shares is greater than their par value, e.g. as in a rights issue, the shares are said to sold at a premium (called share premium, additional paid-in capital or paid-in capital in excess of par). Commonly, the share capital is the total of the aforementioned nominal share capital and the premium share capital.

Sometimes shares are allocated in exchange for non-cash, most commonly when company A acquires company B for shares. Here the share capital is increased to the par value of the new shares, and the merger reserve is increased to the balance of the price of company B.

Besides its meaning in accounting, described above, "share capital" may also be used to describe the number and types of shares that compose a company's share structure. For an example of the different meanings: a company might have an "outstanding share capital" of 500,000 shares (the "structure" usage); it has received for them a total of 2 million dollars, which in the balance sheet is the "share capital" (the accounting usage).

The legal aspects of share capital are mostly dealt with in a jurisdiction's corporate law system. An example of such an issue is that when a company allocates new shares, it must do so in a way that does not inequitably dilute existing shareholders.

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Authorised share capital is also referred to, at times, as registered capital. It is the total of the share capital which a limited company is allowed (authorised) to issue. It presents the upper boundary for the actually issued share capital.

Issued capital can be subdivided in another way, examining whether it has been paid for by investors:

Subscribed capital[3] is the portion of the issued capital, which has been subscribed by all the investors including the public. This may be less than the issued share capital as there may be capital for which no applications have been received yet ("unsubscribed capital").

Called up share capital is the total amount of issued capital for which the shareholders are required to pay. This may be less than the subscribed capital as the company may ask shareholders to pay by instalments.

Paid up share capital is the amount of share capital paid by the shareholders. This may be less than the called up capital as payments may be in instalments ("calls-in-arrears") .